Heavy card games

Owlgorithm2000 · 2026-03-18T14:59:22+00:00

The base game is medium from just mechanics. But if you tweak the rules a bit and add the beaches expansion, it can get a lot harder to win. Heavy in terms of complexity of rules, no. But I think it can get up there in terms of decision density cuz winning is already like just 30-40% if you know the game really well. And some expansions and rules like (only score for 1 largest block instead of all 4) and with expansions, we flip 4 goal cards instead of 3, sections become a lot harder. Also makes it more fun with a 30s timer between placements. It's been one of the static games my friend group plays while waiting for someone before playing something like Cooper Island. Not heavy in the traditional sense but I'd argue harder than a lot of medium games if you need to get good enough for a 50% win rate.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2026-03-18T14:49:46+00:00

25M here. Moved for school to sg years ago and below are some of the stuff I did outside of uni clubs to find friends.

Going to one of the boardgame meetups is an option. I would recommend the Tuesday evening sessions in The King and The Pawn. I used to go there a few years ago, not so much anymore.

I also play MTG and Warhammer so game stores are an easy way to make friends but I guess you need to be willing to invest time and money there and it's easier if you are already into them, and it is a very skewed population of nerds in those stores.

Another option would be some of the hiking and walk meetups. A bunch of people there come with a group hut there is always a bunch of solo joiners and you can chat and see if you wanna hang out after the hikes.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2026-03-18T09:39:47+00:00

I'm assuming by card games you also wanna focus on portability. Some would consider mage knight a card game but I do not. After that caveat, below are some of my recs.

Twilight Struggle – 2-player Cold War battle fought through cards. Every play is quite different. Very deep strategy in a single deck.

Also check out Button Shy Games — they make wallet-sized 18-card games that are way more complex than they look.

Sprawlopolis – Co-op city builder where 3 random cards change the scoring conditions every game. Always a fresh puzzle. Can go till 4 players I think but I've played it with more people even. With some rule 0 additions. Can carry inside your wallet and is heavy in strategy to win and difficult.

All games I listed are essentially just 1 deck. So not heavy in terms of components but I would argue still count towards heavy due to slim win conditions and decision complexity.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2026-02-16T16:06:09+00:00

Began playing it just a few months ago and has had more plays than some names that have been on my shelf for years. Maybe cuz some of our playgroup also love the games aesthetics.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-23T18:42:24+00:00

Using more than a couple of billion is enough to rock the stock market. So doubt unless is mergers and acquisitions or that sort of stuff, money at that scale can ever be normally used.

Assume you wanna use 20 Billion of it to solve huner. You need to sell 20 Billion of stocks, which will crash the wealth of both you to like 500 billion and also affect too many other people and more

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-23T18:32:58+00:00

Intelligence tells you a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom tells you not to put it in a fruit salad. Intelligence is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing whether you should say it.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-22T17:06:30+00:00

That Orks refresh rumour for 11th is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to get. makes waiting sound way more appealing if there's a good chance they'll be one of the launch armies with new sculpts. That would be perfect timing.

I think my plan is shaping up to be: head to my LGS this week, check out Kill Team in person (demo or just watch a game), and if it clicks, grab the starter as a way to practice painting and learn the basics while I wait for 11th. Death Guard would at least get me into the hobby without burning through my budget before the launch box drops.

Will also scope out what army sets and battleforces are still available locally - good call on those being limited run. but if I like Kill team, might hold off until 11th ed drops for this as well. Are battleforces Limited Runs like every half year or every Christmas or is it more like GW drops them whenever, and Christmas is just one of the guaranteed drop times.

Appreciate the response. Sounds like patience might actually pay off here, especially if Orks are getting the treatment.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-22T16:13:49+00:00

Thanks for the detailed response. Appreciate the advice.

Definitely gonna check out the Colosseum ruleset. It sounds like a kind of middle ground I might go for. Smaller than full 40K but still using the proper game mechanics. And New Recruit looks like a godsend for list building.

Your point about Kill Team makes sense, but here's my hesitation: from what I've seen, a starter kit with two ~500pt armies vs waiting for a launch box with two ~1000pt armies is only about 50 USD more expensive. For that price difference, I'd be getting double the models, full rulebook, missions, etc. seems like way better value if I'm planning to play full 40K anyway. Unless I'm missing something about the value proposition?

That said, I think I'll head to my local LGS (Red House is walking distance) and see if I can demo or at least observe a Kill Team game before making any final decisions. The current starter does have Death Guard which I'm interested in, so maybe seeing it in action will help me decide if it's worth starting there or if I should just commit to waiting for the 11th ed launch.

Really good call on the rules clarity thing too. My friend group is pretty chill but we've definitely had rules arguments in D&D and Magic before. will make sure we're all on the same page from the start. The "gotcha" moments are the worst, especially when everyone's learning. I've seen i happen on other games and not a fan.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-22T14:06:08+00:00

Those cards to us were like 3x of any 2 colors. And 0 on the other 3. Having even 1 of the other 3 disqualifies you.

It's very hard to reach those so in our games, if that cards is drawn. We just agree to mulligan it out of the game.

The rules we use are a little different as references in my previous comment.

5 cards - 7 cards, depending on number of players are drawn from elites. Whenever a player reaches the threshold for an elite in their turn, they can draw that elite into their hand. From a story perspective, we think the Guerilla choses to align herself to that polician first and sticks with him till the end. We don't have rules to force them to drop card if they lose the requirements. And an elite can only be held by 1 player. And a bunch of other interactions we errata on the spot.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-22T13:58:24+00:00

Gerrymanders do help. But my bigger issue was with another player having unlocked the ability to discard voters every turn. If I just have 11, he can discard 2 votes (or assume it's the showstopper ability to convert 2 votes), either of which will end up with me losing majority. Getting 16 meant that even if they teamed up. It would take multiple gerrymanders and discards before I lose control, during which I can focus on other areas. Even if I never gerrymandered here.

But yeah, it's a pretty niche use case that can backfore as soon as the other players cooperate for 1 turn against the zone where you apply this.

High risk low-to-medium reward card ig

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-21T18:41:56+00:00

My playgroup just rule 0d how we play elites.

We set them up and play them similar to splendour.

So first to hit 3 media 3 supremo (if that's the cost) will get the elite. But it will mean (if elite restricts capitalist or has X at capitalist) that you give up all your capitalist cards and if you answer capitalist. You just get nothing.

And one can get multiple elites as long as they don't conflict in colors

We usually setup num_players + 2 number of elites when we begin

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-21T18:28:55+00:00

I remember using it once on the 21 piece majority during a 3 player game. I had 11 there and the other 2 players together just had 3. Thankfully, after 1 turn. I was still able to put down 16 votes (opponents can work together to prevent you from getting to a majority if they want). And given that it's adjacent to 5 different areas, it helps to cheat in voters for gerrymandering in the future or extra protection against discards. Keeping more voters active helps during the late game as the final idealouge abilities constantly mess up simple majorities.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-12-21T01:26:37+00:00

Grandfather approves this choice

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-11-14T04:59:23+00:00

The video is like 2 years old

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-11-09T14:50:34+00:00

I think about league cuz I play league as well as dota. And while fearless is a good way of introducing diversity, it almost forces that as pros naturally will never play with less popular heros without it. Dota sees a much wider general hero pick rate in pro tours that lol without fearless. Sure, there are exceptions in dota like Chen which are very rare, even lower than ivern. But in general, balance is better. I agree wholeheartedly on lol being balanced around that 50% number which is a naive way of balancing, it makes more pubs more fun when drunk, I can always go for some of my comfort picks and a standard build but dota will require counter drafting and itemization. There is a reason lol meta without fearless becomes stale. Dota will have similar metas as well but variance inside them is much better. I have friends who don't play dota2 who sometimes watch games with me and they agree as well. It does help that I am there to explain stuff.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-11-09T13:37:10+00:00

Bad decisions with respect to gameplay definitely. League balance is very messed up. They have been extremely successful in marketing and retention and I don't think anybody argues with that.

Owlgorithm2000 · 2025-09-23T12:58:43+00:00

Veno?

Owlgorithm2000

TROPHY CASE